John 6:16-26

In the evening his disciples went down to the sea, got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned. A huge wind blew up, churning the sea. They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless, but he reassured them, "It's me. It's all right. Don't be afraid." So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to.

The next day the crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off without him. By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten the bread blessed by the Master. So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn't coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

When they found him back across the sea, they said, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered, "You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.” — John 6:16-26, The Message

We get really caught up in the miracle of Jesus here. Why wouldn’t we? I mean it’s like a scene out of a movie. A storm rises out of the lake and then in the distance who do they see? Jesus! He’s walking on the water. I mean come on! Amazing!

The thing is, it’s all a set up.

John is setting us all up for the punchline.

It’s that moment when Jesus says, “You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.”

Jesus called the people out for seeking to use him.

They understood Jesus in transactional terms. He knew that the were not amazed by the miracle of the loaves and fishes. They simply wanted more free food.

Jesus was nothing more than a magic food talisman.

This is true for us too. We use Jesus all the time. When we don’t get what we want we blame Jesus.

It’s not surprising though. This is the gospel that we have been preaching for a long time is it not? “God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life…” so the saying goes. If you make a decision for Jesus and pray this prayer then everything will be wonderful for you. This is the false gospel that has been preached and continues to be preached all over the place. It’s a gospel of services rendered. It is transactional. Give Jesus everything and your life will be wonderful.

What happens when our lives don’t turn out to be wonderful?

Then we realize the gospel we believed was false.

Jesus, wasn’t having any of this false gospel stuff. He knew the people were coming for another transaction.

The deeper reality that Jesus wanted them to see was God in him.

It’s so much easier to make a transaction.

It’s much more difficult to cultivate a life and ministry where people see God.

That is slow work. It’s hard work. It’s long work. It demands change and transformation in us. It requires authenticity.

I think it’s worth it though.

John 6:1-15

After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.

When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread to feed these people?" He said this to stretch Philip's faith. He already knew what he was going to do.

Philip answered, "Two hundred silver pieces wouldn't be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece."

One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, "There's a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that's a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this."

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.

When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted." They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.

The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, "This is the Prophet for sure, God's Prophet right here in Galilee!" Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself. // John 5:1-15, The Message

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As I was thinking about this story this morning, I was wrestling with what do I write about? Does anyone need another moralistic lesson from this passage? Do we need another devotional on “stretching faith”? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. I mean, I love that this passage drives home that we do not need to live with a scarcity mindset and that we can trust that God will provide. It’s good stuff.

But, what really hit me was the phrase, “so he slipped off…”

Jesus just up and left.

Why?

Because he “saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king.”

Jesus just didn’t get it, did he?

He could have been king! He could have had it all! The crowds were eating out of his hand, literally.

I wonder, if I was in the same position as Jesus what would I have done? I likely would have accepted the role and tried to do “good.”

I am reminded of the scene in The Lord of the Rings where Frodo tries to give Gandalf the ring of power:

Frodo: Take it, Gandalf, you must take it!
Gandalf:I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo, I would use this ring from a desire to do good, but through me it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.

I know my own heart so well. My greatest fear as a pastor is that I will deeply wound someone through using my position as leverage in their life. So many of us pastors have abused people in so many ways. I even see this fear in my wife as she doesn’t want to leverage her role as “pastor’s wife” in a way that makes people feel compelled to do things.

Jesus is such a beautiful example for spiritual leaders. We really ought to be people who slip away from the crowds and who seek to keep ourselves from the adulation of the crowds. Yet, in our day and age the “successful” pastors are those who do the exact opposite of Jesus. The “best” and the “brightest” are the ones who can draw the crowd and have the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. No wonder we see spiritual abuse and trauma all over the place.

When we as leaders become so enamored with ourselves and our ministries that we miss what we are really called to be, that is people who are administering spiritual salves to the broken-hearted, then we have lost the plot.

The American church today needs more spiritual leaders who will set aside the power and the fame for the quiet presence of being involved in the lives of people.

I remember reading about how Eugene Peterson, a pastor’s pastor if there ever was one, would read The Brothers Karamazov every year to remind himself that the people in his congregation had stories that were compelling and very real.

Pastors, we need to get serious about what our calling is. It isn’t to be a celebrity. It isn’t to be “king” or “queen.” It is to be like the Good Samaritan, being present with the hurting and the wounded to bring healing. We do so with presence, we do so in speaking grace, mercy, and truth. We do so by slipping off from the crowds to do our work in the lives of real people.

As I continue to think about this and dwell on this, I realize again how much I need to repent of my own sin-sick heart. I have such a desire for the crowd. Oh, what I would give to be “on the conference circuit.” How wonderful would it be to have bestsellers and thousands listening to me preach every Sunday!

Yet, sitting with a man in his hospital room is better.
Yet, answering the questions of a teen struggling with doubt is better.
Yet, being present in the life of community is better.
Yet, being fully available and present to my wife and children is better.

My prayer is that those of us in spiritual leadership will never seek the throne but that we would "slip off..”

John 5:41-47

I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

"But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?" // John 5:41-47, The Message

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As the kids say these days, “Jesus just said the quiet part out loud!”

Again, perhaps it’s the books I’ve been reading or maybe it’s just my own presumptions about the way much of the American church has failed over the last 70 years, but we really need to hear what Jesus is saying here.

Michael Frost a missioligist and church planter said it really well,

Perhaps you have listened to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast or the Gangster Capitalism: Liberty University podcast or you have just seen so many of the headlines about the many failures of the American church. For many, Michael’s question is right on the money, “Where else can we turn?”

You see, Jesus didn’t care about crowd approval. Yet, for many of us pastors that is all we care about. In many churches all that matters is getting more people in the door of the church regardless of means, short of illegal and mostly short of immoral. Why? Because for them the ends justify those means.

The crowds are what matter.

The bigger the crowd then the more God is blessing the ministry, obviously. The thing is, that isn’t really true. You can have huge crowds and not honor God in the slightest.

Jesus says, “I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda.”

We see this all over the place. As Frost says, “The proof is in the pudding.”

As a result of the Acts 13 Network seeking to embody the church in a different way, I am privileged to sit down with people who would likely not sit down with other pastors. These folks have been so deeply wounded and traumatized by the church. I hear their stories firsthand. They are gut wrenching.

When we care more about crowd approval then we will move away from love, it’s not on the working agenda. This is because to gain the crowd you have to focus on the things that draw the crowd. It’s all about the coolest, the most beautiful, the people who can look the part of the “blessed.”

The crowds demand everything to look perfect all the time. The crowds need to feel good and to feel powerful and to feel like they are in control. Yet, the leaders know that to make those things happen they first have to hook the crowds up to strings so that they can control everything. I know. I’ve done it.

The crowds hate messy.
The crowds hate uncertainty.
The crowds hate mystery.
The crowds hate reality.

Over the last 70 years the American church has become expert in hiding the messy, hiding the uncertainty, hiding the mystery, and hiding reality.

This came crashing home for me when two movies were released about the holocaust. In 1993 Schindler’s List was released and many Christians said that it was inappropriate to see the film because of the full frontal nudity and the brutality depicted in it. Then in 1997 Life is Beautiful was released, a film about the holocaust where a father tries to keep his son from knowing about the horrors of the situation. Christians largely endorsed this film. It’s interesting isn’t it? Both films have their place. But, the American church boycotted one and embraced the other (at least in my Evangelical circles). I think this displays a symptom of the greater problem.

I think those of us who are Elders need to rethink the working agenda.

Is most of your time spent thinking about the Sunday event, the numbers of giving units, budgets, and programs? If it is, then you are likely in a place where the crowds matter most and the working agenda is not Jesus’ working agenda. Is most of your time spent praying for the people in your congregation, meeting with people in your congregation, being present with the people in your congregation? Then, I think the working agenda is more in line with Jesus’.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “There’s no way I could spend time with that many people!” Then perhaps you have your answer. Perhaps it’s time to break up the monoliths into smaller congregations with Elders and pastors who can truly shepherd and care for the people. Perhaps it’s time to sell off the land and the property and leave the offices behind.

When is enough, enough? When will we as the leaders of the American church realize that the religious industrial complex is sick and needs radical surgery?

What is your agenda? Is it Jesus’?

I don’t have it all together. I struggle with the desire for the large crowd. I still deep down inside believe that more numbers equals success. It feels good to have large crowds. The bigger the crowd the bigger the ego bump and it is awesome. But, I’ve noticed even in my setting that when we have a bigger crew on a Sunday night it’s really hard for me to get to really engage with every person that comes. I want to be able to do that because I want to know what’s happening in their lives and to be able to pray for and love them well.

I desperately want my working agenda to reflect the working agenda of Jesus.

I desperately want the church at large in America to have the working agenda of Jesus.

Something needs to change.

We need to hear what Jesus says here to the religious leaders of his day. We need to be changed by it.

John 5:39-40

You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want. // John 5:39-40, The Message

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Over the last few weeks I have read A Church Called Tov, Jesus and John Wayne, The Righteous Mind, and I’m almost finished with The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Because of this, I almost feel like just leaving those two verses standing alone, without comment.

I would love for you to go and read them again.

Seriously, we can wait.

I have been part of the Evangelical wing of the Protestant church since I started to really take my faith seriously in college. If you were to ask any of us what the Trinity is we would quickly tell you that it is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

That’s easy.

The thing is, most Evangelicals are more like Indiana University basketball fans than we are orthodox trinitarians.

What do I mean by this, you might be wondering?

Well, let me tell you!

I remember the day that Bobby Knight left IU. Amy and I were driving somewhere to raise money and we were listening to sports radio in Indiana. When the news broke the calls that came in were some of the saddest and angriest people that I had ever heard on a radio station. One man said, “In Indiana the holy trinity is God, Jesus, and Bobby Knight!” Now, if this man was at church he would surely tell you the Holy Spirit is likely part of the Trinity rather than Bobby Knight, but in that moment how he actually lived his life was on display.

For many of us who have been part of the Evangelical world for a while, the way we actually live our lives is that the Trinity is composed of God, Jesus, and the Bible. Most of us don’t think much about the Spirit, likely because when we do we get uncomfortable. The Spirit leads us down a road towards mystery and uncertainty and faith. What we prefer is certainty, data, and logic.

Jesus is talking to the religious leaders of his day. The folks who in many ways most parallel the Evangelical Christians and our leaders of this day. He tells them that they are missing everything. Why? Because they have their heads so far stuck up their Bibles that they can’t see what’s right in front of them.

Friends, many of us American Christian Evangelicals have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. We are so committed to a book that we are missing what or actually who the book is pointing us toward.

Is the Bible important? Yes. I read it, I study it, I love it. The Bible inspires me and challenges me and convicts me and encourages me. I think the Bible is the most fascinating, beautiful, and challenging text that has ever been written. I think it’s been breathed out by God. I think it is sharper than a two-edged sword, as the saying goes. I am fully committed to the Bible!

In the midst of all that though, I have resolved over the last few years to try not to miss who the Bible is pointing us toward.

Who is the Bible pointing us toward? Christ.

What is the Bible pointing us toward? Grace, the reconciliation of all things, and the consummation of all things.

I wonder, what if we were to return the Holy Spirit back to the Trinity and allow the Spirit to draw us into mystery, uncertainty, and faith and as a result place the Bible back in its rightful place as a reflecting mirror through which we see dimly; would this help us to love and live more like Christ?

Maybe.

I think it might be worth a try.

John 5:28-38

"Don't act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.

"I can't do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I'm not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders. If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness. But an independent witness confirms me, the most reliable Witness of all. Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave expert and reliable testimony about me, didn't he?

"But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I'm speaking to you this way so that you will be saved. John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John's witness. It's the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously.” // John 5:28-38, The Message

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This is another passage where there is a lot going on. It is thick with meaning. We could be here for hours working our through it. But, that’s not the purpose of this little semi-daily devotional. The purpose is for me to share one thing that stuck out to me and that I will be meditating on for the rest of the day. Then, perhaps you will too.

What hit me today was that last little bit.

“There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Message seriously.”

I wonder if many Christians in America get so sideways because we have not taken his Message seriously?

We get pretty worked up about particular data points in the story of Jesus. But, we seem to have missed the Message. I am so guilty of this. I see it everyday in my interactions with others. There are times that I’m sarcastic, cutting, and mean. Many times what is happening inside my mind is so ugly, that as I review the day, I realize again how much in need of grace I am.

When we boil down everything about Jesus into a set of data points then what matters most is intellectual ascent. It seems that these data points are:

1. Intellectual ascent to a virgin birth

2. Intellectual ascent that Jesus lived

3. Intellectual ascent that Jesus died by means of crucifixion

4. Intellectual ascent that Jesus rose from the dead

I am in no way belittling these beliefs. I think they are important and crucial beliefs. I hold to them.

What I am finding in my own life as I continue to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus is that his life and his message was so much more than those four beliefs. These data points are not life changing.

When I first became aware of this, I was sitting in my friend Bob’s living room. He is a mentor and father figure to me. Amy and I were there with a handful of other couples for a small group bible study. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and going deep into one another’s lives. One night he asked the question, “What does grace mean?” Everyone sat in silence. So, Bob said, “Dan and Amy, you’re on staff with Campus Crusade, what’s the definition?” Me, being the self-righteous, self-important know-it-all exclaimed, “Unmerited favor!”

Bob asked the follow up, “What’s so amazing about that?”

Silence.

As we walk with Jesus we are confronted with one who invites the outsider in. We are confronted by one who is the embodiment of love. I understood the “grace data point,” but I didn’t understand the depths of it, the beauty of it, the reality that it was an idea that changed the world.

I had yet to take the Message seriously.

When we take the Message seriously we are transformed into people who are seeking to be like Jesus. A people who try to take with us in our bodies the death and resurrection of Christ. We try to embody grace, truth, and love. To take the Message seriously is to be transformed in how we live, not just in what we believe.

John 5:24-27

"It's urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

"It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment. // John 5:24-27, The Message

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Jesus doesn’t care about what we think about who is in and who is out.

Jesus doesn’t care that we don’t like “those” people, whomever those people are.

Jesus cares about bringing in those who have been condemned as outsiders and bringing them into community.

It’s interesting isn’t it that for Jesus the one who is outside the circle of friends is the one who is experiencing the “world of the dead”?

I’m struck by the statement of Jesus, where he says that it is up to him to carry out matters of judgment. If it’s up to him, do you know who it’s not up to? You or me.

That is so freeing.

Seriously.

I have spent a lot of years trying to figure out how to pass judgment on others. When I was younger, it was easy. You see, in our youth we have everything figured out and we know that we are pretty much perfect. As you age and mature you become aware of the reality that you don’t have much, if anything, figured out. You realize that your Mimi was right when she said, “But by the grace of God go I.”

So, yeah. Jesus being the arbiter of judgment is a way better system than a pastor or anyone else being an arbiter of judgment.

Now, to be clear I think what he’s talking about here is the judging of who belongs on the outside to experience the “world of the dead.” That’s not my call. That’s not your call.

As I let this passage sit in me, I think we have the twin responsibilities of being sure that we are aligned with Jesus and also to welcome outsiders inside.

Could you imagine the way the world would look different if those of us who bear the name, “Christian,” understood ourselves as greeters not gatekeepers?

My goodness! We might take another step toward being known by our love!

John 5:19-23

So Jesus explained himself at length. "I'm telling you this straight. The Son can't independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.

"But you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father's decision to put the Son in the place of honor. // John 5:19-23, The Message

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I don’t know if you have noticed this or not, but we live in a tribal age. Everyone is so concerned about which team you’re on. I remember a number of years ago there was a segment on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he sent one of their correspondents to one of the political parties’ national convention. The correspondent was interviewing people and asked what made their party better than the other? The response was that their party was the “big tent” party and welcomed everyone. The correspondent then began asking people who were their political “other” were welcome. Predictably, the people he interviewed said, “no! Not THOSE people.”

It was a stark example that the age we are living in seems to be first and foremost about figuring out who is with us and who against us. Then, we can determine who our enemies are.

It’s easy to have enemies.

There’s just something about hating someone that is animating.

So, when I read this passage this morning I was struck by how it subverts the “Us vs Them” mentality of our culture. It also was subversive of Jesus’ own culture. He too lived in an age where the lines were clearly drawn.

Jew or Gentile.
Greek or Barbarian.
Slave or Free.
Man or Woman.

He lived in a world that was full of distinctions and separations. You couldn’t worship with those who were in different categories than you. Men and women were separated at Temple and in the synagogue, for example. Distinctions ruled the day even when it came to worship.

Yet, here is Jesus saying that neither he nor the Father will shut anyone out. Jesus’ work was about bringing reconciliation to the world. This reconciling work meant that the lines of distinction were being erased. The tribalism was being undercut by grace. It didn’t matter who you were to Jesus, you were welcomed at his table.

Jew or Gentile,
Greek or Barbarian,
Slave or Free,
Man or Woman,

…all were welcome at his table and into the presence of the Father.

The dividing walls were coming down and Jesus was welcoming everyone.

As I sit at my desk today writing and I think about our world. I am struck by the sad reality that Christians, those who intentionally and willingly bear the name of Christ, are among the most divisive. We seek to separate and divide, Us vs Them, in so many ways. Whether it be politically, racially, theologically, or even over the type of seating in a congregation’s building. It is as if we are looking for ways to separate and categorize people into nice neat little groups.

There is something satisfying about knowing our enemies.

The problem is, that as followers of Christ there are to be no enemies. When the Christian looks out into the world we are to see a world filled with bearers of the divine image who are welcomed and accepted by Jesus.

If we can approach the world this way, we become a people who are no longer dividing and separating into Us vs Them but a people who make bigger tables and throw bigger parties. We can become a people who practice a radical minimum standard of welcome and hospitality.

Perhaps we might even become a people known by our love.

John 5:1-18

Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"

The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in."

Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules."

But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, 'Take your bedroll and start walking.'"

They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen."

The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.

But Jesus defended himself. "My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I."

That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God. // John 5:1-18, The Message

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“My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”

Did you catch that?

It jumped off the page to me.

Maybe it’s because I just put the wraps on reading A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight and Laura Barrington where I was challenged to think about what it means for the church to be “tov” or “good.”

I wonder if we think about this enough. For Jesus, doing good was not “work.” Jesus does “good” throughout his ministry on the Sabbath. If doing good was a breaking of the commandment then he would be sinning. This would of course sideline his whole mission, you know? But doing good on the Sabbath was not breaking the commandment it was merely breaking a social convention.

When we do good we are not working if the doing good is coming from a place of who we are.

Something that is talked often in the context of theology classes is the reality that on the seventh day God rested. That when God declared all things good, God stopped working. Yet, here Jesus is saying that God is working and still working right on through the Sabbath! How could this be? Unless of course doing good is not work.

Perhaps when we are living out of our identity it is something different. I think when we are working out of our identity we are simply being. Jesus in healing the man by the pool was not doing work, he was simply being who he is.

Jesus is good.

Therefore, doing good is not work.

Which of course drives me to a place of introspection. Am I good? Is good a part of my identity? Is goodness something that is true of me? I desperately want it to be, but I’m not entirely sure that it is. Except that by placing my trust in Christ I have been united with Christ in life. This means that who I am is hidden with Christ. Whether or I not I perceive my goodness it is there.

I think inherently we know this. I don’t know anyone that after doing good or living out their goodness thinks, “Man, that was terrible, I hate doing good.”

We might be physically tired or even emotionally tired after doing good but there is a sense of joy, accomplishment, or

satisfaction from doing good. Goodness is part of who we are. Not only from union with Christ but also because we are image bearers of the Divine. I think this is why we see goodness cut across the human experience.

Let us lean into our goodness and in so doing we will do good, even when it challenges cultural norms. Let us do good out of our goodness even when it upsets the pious. Let us do good out of our goodness because it is the very thing that we desire to do.

John 4:43–54

After the two days he left for Galilee. Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to.

Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king’s court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: “Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.”

But the court official wouldn’t be put off. “Come down! It’s life or death for my son.”

Jesus simply replied, “Go home. Your son lives.”

The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, “Your son lives!”

He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, “The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o’clock.” The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son lives.”

That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee. — John 4:43–54, The Message

//

Believing is not always the easiest thing in the world. So often we make it out to be something that people can “just do.” But, when we slow down a minute we have to realize that there is a real cost and real risk involved in the believing.

When I was younger I would often think to myself, “How is it that people don’t believe?” I mean it seemed so self-evident to me. God, Jesus, all of it just seemed so logical and straightforward. It seemed to be the thing that made the world make sense. Yet, so many struggled with the idea of it.

One conversation that has stuck with me for nearly twenty years was with a college student at Illinois State University. This man needed no convincing of his sin-sickness. He knew he was hurting and in need of healing. He was fully aware of broken relationships that needed restoration. Forgiveness was something that he desperately wanted. Yet, the idea of receiving grace that he did not earn was a bridge too far. Here, he stumbled. It made no sense to him. He desperately wanted to believe it but it just didn’t make any sense to him. There was no anger or dislike of Christians. He was unchurched so there wasn’t any kind of church baggage. It was simply the idea that a God existed who would love him without condition seemed so illogical and unfathomable that he could not give intellectual ascent to the concept, let alone belief.

As I read this story of the official in the King’s court it struck me how much it would cost this man to believe Jesus. His belief told him that he needed Jesus to come and be in person with his son to heal him. But, Jesus simply said, “Go, your son lives.” How does that work? What would you do? If you, in your heart of hearts believed that Jesus needed to be in person with your dying son to heal him, would you believe?

I don’t know if I would.

I would want to.

But the cost would be so great if I was wrong.

I think about that young man from Illinois State often. What would the cost of his belief in grace be? I think perhaps the cost may have been his sense of autonomy. We want to believe that we don’t need anyone or anything to help us. But, the truth of the matter is that we desperately need one another. To believe in grace demands that we set aside our personal autonomy and acquiesce to the love of the Divine. For rugged individualists, that’s tough stuff.

It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? The thought that something freely given actually comes to us for great cost. It’s not that we earn grace but the receipt of grace demands that we trust.

I am learning that trust is often a bridge too far.

Trust is a cost that many of us are unwilling to pay.

I read this story and am left in awe by the belief of the official. His radical trust that Christ, with a “bare word”, could save his son leaves me slack jawed.

Belief, faith, trust, isn’t easy. It costs.

Sometimes when we do trust we get to experience the joy of life, the joy of healing, the joy of resurrection.

As I ponder this story, I think I’m realizing again the risk of belief, the cost of trust, is worth the joy that is set before me.

John 4:43-54

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//

After the two days he left for Galilee. Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to.

Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king's court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: "Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe."

But the court official wouldn't be put off. "Come down! It's life or death for my son."

Jesus simply replied, "Go home. Your son lives."

The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, "Your son lives!"

He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, "The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o'clock." The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, "Your son lives."

That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee. — John 4:43-54, The Message

//

Believing is not always the easiest thing in the world. So often we make it out to be something that people can “just do.” But, when we slow down a minute we have to realize that there is a real cost and real risk involved in the believing.

When I was younger I would often think to myself, “How is it that people don’t believe?” I mean it seemed so self-evident to me. God, Jesus, all of it just seemed so logical and straightforward. It seemed to be the thing that made the world make sense. Yet, so many struggled with the idea of it.

One conversation that has stuck with me for nearly twenty years was with a college student at Illinois State University. This man needed no convincing of his sin-sickness. He knew he was hurting and in need of healing. He was fully aware of broken relationships that needed restoration. Forgiveness was something that he desperately wanted. Yet, the idea of receiving grace that he did not earn was a bridge too far. Here, he stumbled. It made no sense to him. He desperately wanted to believe it but it just didn’t make any sense to him. There was no anger or dislike of Christians. He was unchurched so there wasn’t any kind of church baggage. It was simply the idea that a God existed who would love him without condition seemed so illogical and unfathomable that he could not give intellectual ascent to the concept, let alone belief.

As I read this story of the official in the King’s court it struck me how much it would cost this man to believe Jesus. His belief told him that he needed Jesus to come and be in person with his son to heal him. But, Jesus simply said, “Go, your son lives.” How does that work? What would you do? If you, in your heart of hearts believed that Jesus needed to be in person with your dying son to heal him, would you believe?

I don’t know if I would.

I would want to.

But the cost would be so great if I was wrong.

I think about that young man from Illinois State often. What would the cost of his belief in grace be? I think perhaps the cost may have been his sense of autonomy. We want to believe that we don’t need anyone or anything to help us. But, the truth of the matter is that we desperately need one another. To believe in grace demands that we set aside our personal autonomy and acquiesce to the love of the Divine. For rugged individualists, that’s tough stuff.

It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? The thought that something freely given actually comes to us for great cost. It’s not that we earn grace but the receipt of grace demands that we trust.

I am learning that trust is often a bridge too far.

Trust is a cost that many of us are unwilling to pay.

I read this story and am left in awe by the belief of the official. His radical trust that Christ, with a “bare word”, could save his son leaves me slack jawed.

Belief, faith, trust, isn’t easy. It costs.

Sometimes when we do trust we get to experience the joy of life, the joy of healing, the joy of resurrection.

As I ponder this story, I think I’m realizing again the risk of belief, the cost of trust, is worth the joy that is set before me.

John 4:39-42

Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!" — John 4:39-42, The Message

//

I remember the first time that I heard the phrase, “Secondhand jive.” We were at church and our pastor used it. He was talking about how in the 70s when you heard something from someone else it was, “sechondhad jive.” He was arguing that we needed to have a “firsthand jive” faith. That is, a faith where we ourselves engage with the divine and not just hear about it from someone else.

As I read this passage this morning this was the phrase that popped into my head.

But I also noticed that before the people of this Samaritan village experienced “firsthand jive” they received the word of someone else. What is fascinating to me is that the person that they heard it from is not someone who would have been considered to be all that trustworthy.

What was it about her?

The only thing I can think of is that something about her changed.

It is the assumption of most that she was a person who was living in isolation from her community due to her life. We learn from her conversation with Jesus that she had multiple husbands and was living with a man not her husband at that time. She went to the well at the hottest part of the day to avoid others or because she was being shunned by them. Either way, after her interaction with Jesus she re-entered their community and pointed people to him.

Isn’t this what Jesus was always doing? Because of the grace and mercy and love that he offered, people were being reconciled to God, themselves, and also their communities. We see this in the healings that he performs as well. People with physical infirmities are able to become full participants in the community again.

When the Samaritan woman has her “firsthand jive” with Jesus she is changed. By her entering back into community others believe and go meet Jesus too. Then they have their own experience of “firsthand jive.”

Who was it that you knew that initially pointed you toward Jesus? For me, I think it was my Mimi and mom. Seeing their lived faith and how they loved people kept me in touch with my faith while it would have been easy to walk away. I am beyond grateful for them. Because of them, I now believe because of my own experience with the divine. So, who was it for you?

John 4:31-38

In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?"

He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about."

The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"

Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!

"The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows, that one harvests.' I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others." — John 4:31-38, The Message

//

As I sit in this passage today I am struck by this image from the last sentence, “Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”

Too often we think that we are “the first” or that we are bringing a “fresh” expression of the gospel to a particular place and people. But, the reality is that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves.

A couple years into my time here in Ypsilanti I was sitting with a group of pastors from the city. Mostly men and women who had given most of their adult lives to this place. They had been faithfully serving the people and the city for decades. These pastors are good and faithful men and women. They love our city deeply and passionately. They have been through the hard years and the painful times. There is nothing that they have not seen. They’ve been through the Civil Rights marches and the Billy Graham Crusades.

In that meeting my heart broke.

I was absolutely gutted.

It was as if the Spirit grabbed me by my ear and seemingly said, “Little boy, look, listen, and hear. You are arrogant. Your arrogance is hurting my people here. Learn to love, son.”

I was sitting next to my friends Pastor Vicki, Pastor Roger, and Pastor Tony. Pastor Vicki was walking the line of anger, frustration, and sadness over the attitude of the many “church planters” that were coming into the area. They were speaking as though God was absent and that God’s people were absent and that the work of the Spirit of God was absent from this place. I could see and hear, her frustration and heartbreak. Pastor Tony and Pastor Roger were resonating with her.

I was gutted.

After the meeting I sought forgiveness, she was gracious and kind. Then she said, with that twinkle in her eye and the rye smile that accompanied her kind heart, “I’m so glad you were hearing me.”

It was in that moment that I realized in our work here in Ypsilanti we are standing on the shoulders of giants. Men and women who most of the world will never know. But, these men and women have done the hard work. They have prayed, served, loved, and been present in a place that many have overlooked and ignored except in its proximity to Ann Arbor.

Truly the Spirit that day was showing me that, “Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.”

Today as I sit here, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for their faithful love of this city and this people.

How have you walked into a field, without lifting a finger, that was ripe for harvest because it has been worked long and hard by others?

John 4:31-34

In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?"

He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about."

The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"

Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” — John 4:31-34, The Message

//

Sometimes I read and stop and think and can’t stop thinking about what it was that I just read. Today is one of those days. I was reading and just stopped with that last sentence. I couldn’t keep going. It was just done-zo after that.

So often in our American Christianity we think of spiritual food simply as the Scriptures. Please hear me, I am not downplaying the importance of the Scriptures in our spiritual lives. Nor am I downplaying the role of prayer in our spiritual lives. What I want to say is that maybe we have over emphasized the Bible to the point that we have missed something crucial to our spiritual development.

For Jesus, the food that keeps him going is doing “the will of the One” who sent him. It was living, acting, doing. Spiritual food was not sitting and studying the Bible. Though, Jesus clearly knew his Bible. It was not sitting and only praying. Though, Jesus actively sought time to get away and pray.

His spiritual vitality came from living out his faith. Jesus was fully engaged in the world living out what he taught.

Jesus was doing things.

For Jesus, spiritual vitality did not come about from hiding out in a holy huddle. No, it came from living his faith by loving people and pointing them to the glorious One that sent him.

The work that “One who sent” him had started was the work of calling people into relationship with the divine, renewing the covenant promises, bringing the history of God’s people to its dramatic conclusion where exile was ending. In a word, reconciliation.

Reconciliation could only happen if Jesus acted in the world and the did the work before him.

The same is true for us. We will find a greater vitality of faith as we live it out in the world. Our faith will become more real to us as we try to love people. This demands that we leave our study rooms and prayer closets and find our way to the neighborhoods, cafes, pubs, bowling alleys, schools, restaurants, golf courses, and anywhere else there are people who need to see love, grace, and mercy in action.

Are you feeling a bit dry in your spiritual life? Go serve. Do you need help finding a place to serve? I can help with that. There are many needs all around us if we just lift our heads and start looking around.

John 4:25-30

The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."

"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further."

Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.

The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves. — John 4:25-30, The Message

//

Sure I could wax eloquent about Jesus’ response to the woman’s statement about the Messiah. I mean it is remarkable isn’t it? A Samaritan woman waiting expectantly for the Messiah, a whole Samaritan town, for that matter, waiting for the Messiah. All of this would be mind bending stuff in the first century. John, in telling this story this way, was blowing categories left and right for his Jewish readers.

Yet, this is not the part that really grabs my attention.

No, what really grabs my attention is this, “Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.”

This woman came to the well at midday, in the heat of the day, and this meant that she was not interested in engaging with the other women of her village. She was living a life of shame. Her own shame and likely being shamed by those in her village. This woman was not someone that would have been considered to have “high moral virtue.” No, she definitely fit into the, “One of those people,” kind of categories.

The disciples showed up and were shocked. Probably first that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan, second that he was talking to Samaritan woman, and third that he was talking to a Samaritan woman who was clearly immoral. Peterson’s translation gets it right on the money, “that kind of woman.”

Jesus was always doing that.

He was always talking to that “kind of woman.”

There always seemed to be the person that he shouldn’t talk to hanging around. But did Jesus care? Nope! He went right ahead and spent time with them.

Jesus wasn’t worried about what other people thought of him. He had an audience of one, so to speak, and this freed him to love well. When you no longer care about trying to please others you are able to love people who some have determined to be unlovable.

There was no tribal affiliation for Jesus. He pursued the way of love, that was his dogma. This way of love lead him to talk to people like the Samaritan woman and leave even his disciples in utter shock.

Who are you afraid to talk to? Who are “those people” that your tribe wouldn’t approve of? Why are you worried about what they think?

When we follow the way of Jesus we no longer have to worry about what others think. Our only concern is to love like him and live like him. When we do, we will love well and live life to the full!

John 4:15-24

The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!"

He said, "Go call your husband and then come back."

"I have no husband," she said.

"That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."

"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"

"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." // John 4:15-24, The Message

//

When I slowed down and read this story again, with fresh eyes, I was left a bit scandalized. Were you? What Jesus says here challenges me so deeply and leaves me experiencing a deeper sense of grace and mercy.

As a pastor I live and work within the religious industrial complex. Within that complex there are many tribes. Within those tribes there are tribes. So, for instance, I am in the Western Protestant tribe. Within that tribe I am Reformed. Within that tribe I am Presbyterian. Within that tribe I am part of the Evangelical Presbyterians. Within that tribe I am Missional. Within that tribe I am house church movements.

It’s like nesting dolls of tribal identity and those are just the broad tribal alignments that have to do with what kind of congregation I lead.

We love our tribes. We love knowing who is with us and who is against us. There is something marvelously delicious about knowing who our enemies are. Don’t you agree?

Yet, according to Jesus none of it matters.

Not one bit of it.

Not a single iota of it.

Zilch.

Nada.

Nothing.

Nope, not even that.

Wrong, that doesn’t matter either.

Sorry, it doesn’t.

We have so deeply missed the plot that we might as well not even be in the same book as Jesus. Jesus is out here challenging everything that we think we know about God and worship and all that and we just keep on fighting and arguing the same silly little battles that people have for years.

In this story it’s Jew and Samaritan. In our story it might be Pentecostal, Dispensational, and Reformed. Maybe it’s Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant. Could be “Woke” and “Non-woke.” Maybe it’s Apple and Android.

Whatever it is, it’s the same tired story and it doesn’t matter anymore.

All that matters Jesus says is that people, “are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.”

That’s it.

That’s all that matters.

Nothing else.

Nope, not that.

Nor that.

Not even that.

All that matters is simply and honestly being yourself before the divine in worship. That is all that matters, at least according to Jesus.

Perhaps he’s wrong.

Could be, but it seems unlikely.

A motto in our home is that God is sovereign and good. If I believe that, then I can rest in this radically subversive thing that Jesus says here.

All that matters is simply and honestly being yourself before the divine in worship.

Nothing else matters.